KARUPPA SAMY

Who is Karuppasamy and what connection Ayyappaswamy he has? 

KARUPPU SAMY otherwise Karuppasamy or Cheriya Kaduthasamy and Valiya Kaduthadsmy (also called by many other names) is one of the regional Tamil male deities who is popular among the rural social groups of South India, especially Tamil Nadu and small parts of Kerala.  He is one of the 21 associate folk-deities of Ayyanar and is hence one of the so-called Kaval Deivams of the Tamils.

Following is the story heard by word-of-mouth from the pujaris or Sami aadis in Alagar Kovil, Madurai.

In Ramayana, Rama sent Sita to the forest when she was pregnant where she lived in Valmiki's ashram. While in the Ashram, She gave birth to twin male boys, Luv and Kusha, who had golden and blue compleons respectively. One day, Sita left the children under the care of Valmiki. When Sita returned, she found Valmiki meditating and hence took the Kusha without his notice. When Valmiki was out of the meditation, he found one child missing. So, he made a similar looking child from holy Kusha Grass (Dherbai). Later when he found that Sita was having her real child, he asked Sita to treat the new baby also as her own child. Thus Sita brought up all three kids together. When Sita returned to Rama, he set a fire and asked the boys to cross the fire to reach him. He told that whoever was his real heir would cross the fire unscathed. All three completed the task but only Luv and Kusha could reach Ram unscathed while the boy brought up by Valmiki burnt his body becoming darker. Finally, Rama got to know what had happened in the forest and he blessed the burnt boy to become his escort god (Kaval deivam) and called him Karuppu Sami (meaning 'dark colored God').

Finally, Rama blessed the burnt boys to become escort god (kaval deivam) and called him “Karuppannan” which became Karuppa Sami.

That was the reason why Karuppa Sami put the sacred tri-strips (Thiru Namam) on his forehead. And also I heard that while calling the deity, the pujaris sing that “Dherbaiyil pirandhavane (born from the detbai).

Statue of Sangili Karuppan at the Sri Maha Muniswarar Temple is seen in Ampang, Malaysia. The Karuppanar Kovil (or a shrine) is always found in the outskirts of the Village. The maintenance of the temple is taken care of by the whole of the village.

His temple is usually in the open space and will not have traditional Gopurams like any other temples. You can see big statues of Gods with weapons like bow and arrow, swords, knives and other protective weapons alongside Him. There will also be statues of other Goddesses (7 Kannimaar or the 7 Virgins) called as saptha Kannimar in His temples. Animals, often signifying His pets - a dog (Vettai Naai or a hunting dog), a lion and His ride - the white Horse are also found. Statues of Karuppu Sami are often black in colour and adorned with chains. He will usually be holding a sword, sometimes with bells attached. Often, as part of his worship, a cigar will be lit and placed in the Deity's mouth. He is also offered alcohol. Karuppu Sami is often worshipped alongside Madurai Veeran and Muneeswarar. The most famous temple for Karuppasamy is located at Azhaghar Koil, near Madurai. This is considered as the most important of the Karappannaswamy temples. Here he is worshipped as Pathinettampadi Raja Karuppannaswamy. There is no idol here and only an Aruval at the top of eighteen steps. Hence the name is Pathinettampadi.

The main form of worship of Karuppanar in the shrine is a formless stone which has been decorated with a Turban and a Dhoti with flowers and garlands. He wields an "Aruval" which is a long form of machete resembling a scimitar, a sword, sometimes a lance, a trident and a smaller knife. The Aruval is a very significant weapon in Tamil Nadu and is considered, in itself, as a symbol of Karuppanar himself. Some Aruvals may reach the height of even 5 feet, especially the ones in Thiruppaachhi.

The Most Important musical Instrument Which like by God karuppanan are Tappu, Tharai, kombu Tharai, Otha thamukku, Pambai, Udukkai and Urumee. It is also believed that the Alagar Koil belongs to Kallar community of Madurai. They are basically non Brahmins and they are dacoits turned as senapatis (soldiers) of Madurai. They inturn does the job of securing the land for the sake of the society as per the king's order. In Tamil kallan means thief and kallanthiri is the village where the kalla (thief) - algar (smart) temple is located. They converted "kalla-alagar to perumal an incarnation of Vishnu by wearing a Nama on the forehead of all statues.Now the main deity has turned to Vishnu. Thus karuppa samy has become kaval karuppu and his sword has been hanged in the door step (no deity for karuppa samy).

The 18 steps stand for the letters "Ja" "ya". In old Indian languages "ja" stands for 1 and "ya" stands for 8. To say winning lord they said "jaya" karuppanasamy or 18 padi karuppasamy. Both are seated near both sides of Pathinettampadi but at the entrance. Karuppasamy is an alcoholic, non-vegetarian but strict soldier with a wind current flow with bells and chains tied to his body.  Many known will i take 'churuttu' as offering to him in the irumudi because karuppa swamy very much likes it.